Partners in Development

This week marked an important milestone for Kimberly-Clark and Unilever in South Africa as we address the barriers to learning. I'm proud to say that after many months of planning and hard work, we have successfully completed a training programme for 300 schools in the Eastern Cape as part of our efforts to tackle the sanitation crisis impacting students. This is a partnership between Baby Soft, Domestos, The Department of Education and Partners in Development. Baby Soft has been tackling the sanitation crisis in the country since 2018 by providing students with access to clean water, decent toilets and hand washing facilities, but what happens when we don't invest in the maintenance of the toilets is that they quickly become dirty, damaged and unusable. Through this new partnership, we are able to reduce the number of learners impacted by anxiety, illness and absence due to unsafe sanitation facilities by maintaining school toilets to ensure they will be usable for many years to come. The number of students impacted will be over 100,000. I'd like to thank Queen Visagie Mgobhozi, Mandisa Mavuso , Genevieve Fynn, Ponds Nomampondomise Sihlobo, and Zakhiya Rajab from the Unilever team for taking the initiative to reach out to us for the collaboration. Thank you to Jeanette Neethling, Nokhuthula Kubheka and Phozisa Malusi from Partners In Development for the great work during the planning and execution of the programme. Thank you to our agency partners The Niche Guys, Leigh Augustus, Rory Jacobs, Cameron Kurt Krieger, Bronwynne Naidoo, Malibongwe Mwandla, Zibele Mpinga and Sinotho Msweli for capturing this important moment. Last but not least to the Department of Basic Education (both National and Provincial) for providing us with access to the schools and coordinating activities/operations to ensure the implementation of the programme reaches the schools most in need. Being Clean Is A Feeling that everyone deserves! #Babysoft #Domestos #Together #CleanIsAFeeling #BetterCareForABetterWorld

Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting David Still from Partners in Development to discuss the progress of our collaborative project, aimed at investigating how public service authorities, can reduce costs while enhancing faecal sludge emptying and transport services in four African cities. This initiative, conducted in partnership with PID, a South African research and development engineering consultancy, in association with Pit Vidura of Rwanda, will span the next three years and will be implemented in #Lusaka, #Zambia; #Kigali, #Rwanda; #Kampala, #Uganda; and #Kisumu, #Kenya. Stay tuned for further updates on how public sector interventions can effectively enhance the cost-effectiveness, coverage, and safety of the faecal sludge management service chain. #FSM #WASHmanagement #WASHTechnology #Pitvaq #sanitation #operoservices #faecalsludgeemptying #sdgs